Thursday, 13 June 2013

Lollipops, lucky cloverand a surprise little black number...

Just outside our double doors to the garden, there is a small patio between the house and the steps that lead into the actual garden. If you have visited my blog before, you will have seen this little corner of my world a lot, as this is an area that changes with the seasons throughout the year.

With the baskets of pansies looking less than... well, less than alive, shall we say, after my visit to Sweden (when they were left without the tender love and care they crave), it was time to invite some new players to the team...

Can you see all the four-leaf clovers in this beautifully coloured clover-y plant? I look forward to many lucky moments in my life over the next few years, if this is a sign to go by! And my new lollipop mini-trees - what is it about me and my lollipop trees? I can't seem to get enough of them. They are just so... cheerful!

For the second time in my life, "a little black number" has found its way into my decorating. Or two little black numbers to be precise, both old terracotta pots that had a close encounter with a jet black paint brush the other night... The greens of the clover and the other fluffy green loveliness seemed to demand to be offset by a black pot, and I obeyed, of course.

And my dear Buddha seems to have survived last winter without any cracks or blemishes, and sits on his special spot on the steps, spreading vibes of serenity and calm to anyone walking past.

Cluttered with pots? Perhaps. But as our neighbours have recently cut down all the bushes and blackberry branches that used to form a little roof over this seating area and offer a leafy feel to the place, as well as covering some of the not so pretty parts of the old wall, well, this abundance of green and purple eye candy works for me!

Today the winds reign here in Wiltshire. Everywhere I see people muttering and mumbling as they pull their coats tighter around their sun-longing torsos. The sky shows very little promise of anything that does not involve wet and damp, but I will cling on to the hope that we will have more of those lovely temperatures that only a few days ago spoke of summer and planted sunshine in our hearts and in freckles on our noses...

Dear Helena,lovely photos as always ;-) I hope the clover will really bring a lot of luck to you and your family. In Germany we get these little plants on the 31rd of December to bring luck to the new year. We took one of them and planted it into our garden - it survived... The winds wich where in Wiltshire today have now reached the south-western part of Germany, but they say that tomorrow will be a calm and warm day. Next week the temperature shall rise to 32 Celsius! Summer - here it comes!Hugs,Claudia

Hi....Thought I would come by, visit and let you know of a giveaway for a gift certificate to the opening of my new Etsy shop: Daisy Pink Wish.....if you have time, please stop by......would love to see you enter!Daisy~

What you're saying is completely true. I know that everybody must say the same thing, but I just think that you put it in a way that everyone can understand. I'm sure you'll reach so many people with what you've got to say.

Dearest reader, I am sorry you have to go through the extra trouble of word verification to leave a comment here. After having received around 250 spam comments for each post recently, I have unfortunately had to add this filter.

Click on the image to visit my Interior Styling & Photography website

Welcome to my blog, where I hope to share a few glimpses of interior and garden decorating ideas and of the life of a Swede in the UK. Unable and unwilling to stick to one style, my house hosts a mix of Swedish-Danish-French country style, with a hint of New England and a whiff of the Orient. I tend to surround myself with pale, calming colours, but sometimes also flirt with a more spicy palette. With inspiration from nature, recycled items and a dose of cheeky playfulness, I try to see beauty in the little things and items that may at first appear scruffy and 'past their best'. I hope you may find some inspiration here. Välkomna!

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are my own, so please ask if you would like to borrow them, and always state the source.

Some of my photos from the Swenglish Home featured in Franciska Munck Johansen's book...

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Some of my photos in Franciska Munck Johansen's Christmas book......

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Good Homes Magazine, February 2013

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About me

I am a forty-something Swede and I live with my familyin an 18th-century cottage in a small hamlet outside Bath in the UK. I previously lived in an early Victorian house nearby, the interior of which is the one featured here during the first four years of the Swenglish Home blog (Feb 2010 - Feb 2014). When I am not busy picking flowers by the road side or plotting a new interior project, I work as a university lecturer and consultant in Intercultural Communication.

For my work as a Communication Consultant and University lecturer, see my website: